


Crush

by KNACC



Series: Love the Long Way Around [5]
Category: Borderlands
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-02
Updated: 2015-03-02
Packaged: 2018-03-16 00:06:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3467096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KNACC/pseuds/KNACC
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maya’s feelings for Krieg finally start to catch up to her while he continues to be oblivious.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crush

Maya should have known this was going to catch up with her eventually.  She guesses she was just hoping eventually would have been further down the line than this.  But with her once busy schedule of trying to learn about sirens, taking down Jack and protecting her friends now filled with treasure hunts, thinning out the remaining Hyperions forces and downtime instead, there was little hope of that.  Maya sighs as she glances across the small room to the man sleeping nearby.  He’d drifted off to the sound of her reading nearly half an hour ago but still she hasn’t been able to bring herself to head back to Crimson Raider HQ and sleep herself.

She’s not sure when this all got so complicated.  What had started as tentative trust had grown into a partnership of sorts.  From the partnership had grown fondness.  And then somewhere along the line attraction had sprung up out of that.  And now here she was, watching him sleep like some sort of… deviant.  Watching as the firm, strained curves of his body relaxed as he fell deeper and deeper into sleep.  It was...nice.  Nice to see him so calm for once.  “You’re still being creepy,” she mumbles to herself.

She’s just about to start reading her book again when she hears a deep sonorous man’s voice say, “There you go.”  She immediately drops her book, grabs her gun and starts looking for the source.  They’re in Sanctuary so it’s unlikely that it’s a threat but it’s better to be safe than sorry.  The space is pretty bare with little to no place anyone could be hiding but she still doesn’t see anyone but the two of them.  

 _Maybe its someone cloaked, like an assassin or..._ “Zer0?”, she says quietly.  No response.  It’s possible he’s fucking with her but based on what he knows she can do to him if she picks him up (they’d been sparing, he’d said he could handle it, he’d been wrong), she doubts he’d risk startling her.  

“I can’t believe… sleep... eyes open,” the voice rumbles again.  She starts a bit at the sound but realizes that the source seems like its coming from close to Krieg so she heads over to his corner, gun at the ready.  “You’re gonna... creep her out,” the voice says, this time much closer.  So close that the only logical source is… Krieg?  Maya leans in, until her ear is inches from his head.  “So beautiful,” reverberates out from under the mask and Maya reels back, shocked.

 _What the hell is going on?  Could that actually be Krieg talking?_  She compares the deep, melodic voice to his normal shouts, not sure if she hears common ground.  Then she remembers the low growl he sometimes talks in, like the time he’d called her stormy lady and smiles.  Definitely some similarities tonally there so it’s possible...  

She leans over him again, looking down and sure enough, there he is, sleeping with the one eye she can see open.  Maya leans back, out of his range of sight, her mind racing.  There’s a definite possibility that it’s Krieg talking but his vocabulary and phrasing are very different than his norm.  Could this be Krieg’s subconscious?  Or something along those lines? Maya wishes idly that she’d read more books on psychology and the human mind so she have a better idea about what could possibly be going on.  She mentally replays what the voice has said so far, her cheeks suddenly starting to feel warm when she realizes what he’d meant.

 _Me? Beautiful?_ she looks down at herself in mild disbelief.  She knows Gaige says similar things all the time but she’s never sure if the girl is joking or just trying to be friendly.  Either way, the comments always make her a bit uncomfortable.  Her body is a tool, a weapon, the conduit through which her power flows; it’s useful but not elegant.  But now Krieg, or at least some part of him, is saying she’s beautiful and she’s blushing which she hasn’t done for years, not since she was a teen.  But really, isn’t that what he’s been saying since the day they met at the train station?  Pretty lady and all that.  Maya considers for the first time that he genuinely means it, that it’s not just a turn of phrase and she feels her heart clench at the thought.

Almost as if he wants to drive the point home, Krieg mumbles, “Grey eyes… like stormclouds… stunning.”

Maya’s cheeks get darker, her eyes watching the curves of his back flex as he breathes.  She closes her eyes and sighs, “Oh geez, what am I doing?  Eavesdropping on what’s most likely his private thoughts?  I’m just going to… go, yeah.”  She turns to leave, heading straight for her book but before she reaches it, she sighs and goes back.  Casting one last long look at his sleeping form, she pulls a nearby blanket up so it covers his broad shoulders and then finally, leaves.

****

Krieg had slept well which was uncommon but perhaps not unexpected since Maya had taken the time to read to him until he’d fallen asleep last night.  Just the thought of her cracks a smile on his chapped lips, his giant arms rippling and stretching of their own accord as he climbs out of his little nest.  Now awake, he does what he does every morning and heads over to Crimson Raiders HQ to see what everyone has planned for the day.   He hears gasps and slammed doors as he passes the normal people of Sanctuary but he can’t really blame them.  In many cases, people just like him had killed their families and friends.  He knows he doesn’t belong here, shouldn’t be bothering these poor people with his presence but he _is_ starting to feel like maybe he does belong with the other vault hunters which is… nice.  More than he deserves really.

The first person he sees upon arriving is Tannis who gives him her standard “you better be passing through my lab right away or I will run experiments on you” glare.  Krieg just growls and keeps moving, stomping up the stairs with such vigour that he runs directly into someone as he reaches the top.  Maya reels back, eyes blinking as they skim over his chest and then to his head, taking in what just happened.   _We should apologize. Do you think you could say... Sorry?_  He grits his teeth and after a moment growls, “My meats no bouncy castle, pretty lady,” which, to his infinite chagrin, is nothing like sorry.

Maya freezes on the spot, still well within his personal space, her face getting more and more pink by the moment.  Krieg cocks his head at her and she backs up slightly before glancing at the ground, arms crossed.

 _Look what you did.  You shouldn’t berate her for stuff that’s your fault.  Say sorry.  Sor-ry.  Come on, it’s just two syllables, you can do it._  Krieg feels his mouth stutter and move but no sound comes out.

After a moment, Maya looks up and smiles slightly, her pale skin still flushed.  “It was an accident.  Sorry."  She shrugs.  Krieg flails inwardly, frustrated that he’s made Maya uncomfortable but she just continues speaking, obvious to his internal distress. "Anyway, you've got good timing. I was just on my way to go find you. I’ve got us another mission if you’re interested?"

 _Okay, this one’s easy.  All you have to do is say something that sounds excited and she’ll understand. We’re batting zero for two so far today but this one, you’ve got for sure._ Inspite of the ease of the request, he still doesn’t answer right away, his eye focusing on her pink cheeks before finally growling, “Who dares bloody the pretty?” And then, to his own horror, reaching out and touching the tips of two of his fingers to her cheek, shocked to find how warm they are.  

Her blush deepens and she glances down, letting out a long breath before answering, “I’m fine.  I’m just, uh- feeling a little off today.  I’m thinking a good fight may help though which is where you come in. What do you say?”  She tilts her head reflexively, pushing her cheek into his still lingering hand, then, seemingly noticing that she’s touched more of her face to his filthy skin, chuckles uncomfortably and tilts her head the other way.  

Except she’s still smiling and she’s blushing even harder and if Krieg didn’t know better, he’d think she’s flustered by him rather than annoyed and uncomfortable.  That maybe she’s… attracted to him.  He knows it’s wholly impossible, that it’s just his brain seeing something it desperately wishes was true but he can’t help but smile anyway, big and probably a little scary if anyone could see it.  He finally takes this opportunity to shout, “FLESH FOR THE CARVING!” which startles Maya who had been standing far too close for him to be speaking that loudly.

She jumps a little, eyes wide, and after a moment, puts her hand under her eyes and starts laughing.  “I’m... really sorry,” she chuckles out, “I’m not laughing at you, I swear.”

Krieg stares at her, eye wide while inwardly he just groans, _You scared her, you idiot._

She glances up at him and seeing the look on his face, starts to reign in her amusement.  “You really didn’t do anything wrong.  Promise.  I’m just- a bit of a mess today and you startled me. Won’t happen again.”

Krieg ducks down his head so that it’s at Maya’s level and then says at about half volume, “Flesh for the carving?”

Maya grins and then nods, “Yeah, let’s get out of here.”  She brushes against his arm as she slips past him and down the stairs, and he, without a seconds hesitation, follows.

_Maybe... she thinks we’re alright._

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the long wait. This isn't the end for Maya and Krieg yet though so don't worry if you're hoping for kisses.


End file.
